January 24, 2007:
Record keeping is crucial to good management, says St. Paul, Alberta producer and EFP facilitator John Wozniak. Not only is it a way to track progress and efficiency as environmental improvements are made on the farm, but it can also prove that those efforts are being made.
"Take a basic soil test, for instance. Record keeping can help producers understand their returns relative to the organic material and nutrients present in the soil. I've found that once you do that for three or four years, you can see some definite trends emerging."
Keeping records helps in all parts of a farming operation, and completing an EFP helps farmers to become engaged in regular record keeping. It's a good start.